United States District Court, M.D. Georgia, Albany Division
ORDER
LESLIE
J. ABRAMS, JUDGE
Before
the Court is Plaintiff Pinnacle Agriculture Distribution,
Inc.'s (“Pinnacle”) Motion for Preliminary
Injunction (Doc. 4), in which Plaintiff seeks to enjoin
Defendants Mayo Fertilizer (“Mayo”), Jeff
Bradley, and Jason Bradley (Jeff and Jason Bradley,
collectively are referred to hereafter as “The
Bradleys”) from using any confidential information and
trade secrets belonging to Plaintiff and to cease doing
business with any customer or supplier acquired through the
use of such confidential information and trade secrets. The
Court previously granted Plaintiff's Motion for a
Temporary Restraining Order on February 7, 2017 (Doc. 12);
and, on February 22, 2017, the Court held a hearing on
Plaintiff's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction. Based on
the testimony and evidence presented therein, the Court made
a finding of good cause to extend the Temporary Restraining
Order for an additional fourteen days while the Court
addressed Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction.
See Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b)(2). As set forth more
fully below, the Court finds that Plaintiff has met its
burden as to each of the four prerequisites for issuing a
preliminary injunction. Accordingly, Plaintiff's Motion
for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 4) is
GRANTED.
FINDINGS
OF FACT[1]
Pinnacle
and Mayo are competing agricultural supply companies that
both do business in the Sylvester, Georgia area. Until
February 3, 2017, Pinnacle employed Jeff Bradley as the
Location Manager, and Jason Bradley as the Warehouse Manager,
of its Sylvester, Georgia location. As location manager, Jeff
Bradley had the authority to bind Pinnacle in any contracts
for amounts less than $2500, including for ordering supplies
and for repairs and maintenance. He also had the authority to
bind Pinnacle by establishing pricing for customers on
fertilizer and seed. As warehouse manager, Jason Bradley was
responsible for ordering and managing inventory, and did not
require prior approval from anyone else at Pinnacle before
making these decisions.
On
December 9, 2016, Pinnacle received notice from its landlord
that the lease of the Sylvester location would not be
renewed. On the same day, Cole Gholston, Jeff Bradley's
supervisor, called Jeff Bradley to inform him that the lease
would not be renewed, and asked him to relocate all of
Pinnacle's assets to Pinnacle's Dawson, Georgia
location. Dawson, Georgia is about an hour away from
Sylvester, Georgia and Pinnacle planned to conduct its
Sylvester business from there. Mr. Gholston also asked Jeff
Bradley to begin searching for a new location in Sylvester.
Mayo replaced Pinnacle as the tenant in the Sylvester
warehouse.
On
February 1, 2017, Mr. Gholston visited the warehouse because
he had heard that Pinnacle employees had not vacated the
Sylvester location or begun reporting to the Dawson location
as he requested. During his visit, Mr. Gholston found that
Jeff Bradley was still working out of the Sylvester location
and that several of Pinnacle's assets were still at the
Sylvester warehouse. As of February 1, 2017, the Bradleys
were still employed by Pinnacle. Mr. Gholston then called the
Pinnacle attorneys and asked them to do an e-mail search to
determine if any confidential information had been passed
from Pinnacle to Mayo. The search revealed that confidential
information had indeed been passed to Mayo. The search also
revealed multiple e-mails indicating the Bradleys' intent
to leave Pinnacle and work for Mayo, as well as e-mails
indicating that the Bradleys were already working for Mayo in
January 2017. As soon as Pinnacle became aware of the search
results, Pinnacle terminated the Bradleys' employment,
effective February 3, 2017. Below is a summary of relevant
emails:
• December 20, 2016: Jason Bradley emailed an employee
of Mayo Fertilizer from his Pinnacle account. Attached to the
e-mail was a document containing Pinnacle's vendor
information. (Plaintiff Ex. 4). In the body of the e-mail,
Jason Bradley wrote, “Jason Bradley with the new and
upcoming location in Sylvester, Ga. I'm just trying to
get a head start on setting up vendors who we will use
frequently. I was told to send this info to you?”
Id.
• December 21, 2016: Jason Bradley received an e-mail
from Brenda Hammons, of Hinton Oil. Hammons expressed her
understanding that Pinnacle was changing its name to Mayo
Fertilizer beginning in 2017, but would continue to do
business from the same location. (Plaintiff Ex. 5). Ms.
Hammons informed another Hinton Oil employee that he should
send a new W-9 to Jason Bradley's Pinnacle e-mail
account. Id.
• December 29, 2016: Jeff Bradley was copied on an
e-mail between two Mayo employees listing employees who will
need insurance through Mayo, including Jeff and Jason
Bradley. (Plaintiff Ex. 6).
• December 30, 2016: E-mail from Jason Bradley to Mayo
employee, attaching new hire forms for Jeff Bradley.
(Plaintiff Ex. 7).
• January 6, 2017: E-mail from Jason Bradley's
Pinnacle account to Mayo employee. The body of the e-mail
reads, “Just checking to see if this email is working
this morning. Love Britt.” (Plaintiff Ex. 8). Britt
Garwood is a Mayo employee. Garwood previously had been
employed by Plaintiff.
• January 6, 2017: E-mail from Jeff Bradley to Jason
Bradley containing a pivot table, also known as an accounts
receivable list, which includes the following information on
all of Plaintiff's customers: name, balance, credit
information, credit risk, past due status, and pending
litigation. (Plaintiff Ex. 9)
• January 9, 2017: E-mail from Jason Bradley's
Pinnacle account to Mayo employee, signed by Britt Garwood,
which attaches Pinnacle's policy on fringe benefits.
(Plaintiff Ex. 10)
• January 10, 2017: E-mail from Jeff Bradley to Rickard
Seed, a Pinnacle supplier, requesting that an order be sent
“asap to my address listed as Mayo now.”
(Plaintiff Ex. 11)
• January 19, 2017: E-mail from Jeff Bradley to Mayo
employee Britt Garwood attaching Pinnacle's Branch Sales
Report, which details every product sold at the Sylvester
location and the profit margin and rebate information for
each sale. (Plaintiff Ex. 13)
• January 23, 2017: E-mail from Jeff Bradley to Britt
Garwood that contained Pinnacle's profit and loss
statement for December. (Plaintiff Ex. 16). The profit and
loss statement details Pinnacle's revenue, up-front
profit, rebate information, gross profit, expenses, and
earnings before interest tax depreciation amortization.
Id.
• January 23, 2017: E-mail from Jeff Bradley to Britt
Garwood detailing Pinnacle's bonus plan. (Plaintiff Ex.
17)
• January 26, 2017: E-mail from Jason Bradley on his
Pinnacle account to Southeast Ag asking for invoices to be
sent to “jason@mayofertilizer.com” and
complaining that his Pinnacle e-mail was “acting
stupid.” (Plaintiff Ex. 14)
• January 26, 2017: E-mail from Jeff Bradley to Britt
Garwood with updated pivot tables attached. ...